Ferrari triumph in Le Mans: rain chaos, twists and turns, drama
Ferrari wins the 24 Hours of Le Mans for the second time in a row. The 23 hypercars deliver a highly dramatic race with lots of excitement, action and drama.
Those who had high expectations for the 92nd edition of the 24 Hours of Le Mans were not disappointed. The 23 hypercars in the top class delivered a top-class endurance race.
Three manufacturers quickly emerged as candidates for victory: Ferrari, Toyota and Porsche.
In the end, Ferrari is in the lead, with the eleventh overall victory at Le Mans in history – and with a trio of drivers who have never won at Le Mans: Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina and Antonio Fuoco. Nielsen did, however, take a GT class victory at the Sarthe in 2021.
Ferrari already ahead in lap one
The Italians made it clear right from the start that Ferrari was a force to be reckoned with: Nielsen overtook the leading Porsche on the first lap.
The 23 Hypercars deliver a highly dramatic race with lots of excitement, action and drama.
Image: DPPI / WEC
But there were several dramatic twists and turns and events in the 24 hours. The weather in particular was crazy. The conditions kept changing. Sometimes dry, sometimes rain – and with varying intensity. During the night the rain was so heavy that the safety car was on the track for around four hours. Strangely, the safety car was on the track for so long that it ran out of fuel and the safety cars had to be replaced!
The winning Ferrari also had a different strategy. The reason: Nielsen had to make an extra stop because the driver’s door wouldn’t close. In the end, however, that meant saving fuel. Without the yellow phases in the rain, victory would have been anything but certain.
Ferrari with many problems
And: Both factory Ferraris were under investigation for a technical offence, which the race management did not describe in detail. A warning was issued. The customer Ferrari, with Robert Kubica among others at the wheel, retired with engine failure.
In the end, Toyota was Ferrari’s biggest challenger.
Image: DPPI / WEC
Good for Ferrari: Every manufacturer and every car had its problems. In the end, Toyota was the biggest challenger. José María López looked like the winner for a long time, although the Argentinian briefly took the cockpit again because Mike Conway was injured after a bicycle accident. But López spun and lost at least 15 seconds. The second Toyota was out of the fight for victory after a collision with Ferrari. The five-second time penalty was mild – and not decisive for the race.
Porsche was able to keep up with the fastest hypercars for a long time. But the longer the race lasted, the more the Zuffenhausen-based company’s lap times dropped. In the end, Laurens Vanthoor, André Lotterer and Kevin Estre only finished fourth.
Schumacher and Rossi drop out
Things went very badly for the French manufacturers. After six hours, the race was over for both Alpine cars – and with it for Mick Schumacher. The engines in both vehicles overheated. “But we can also take a lot of positives from the race and have grown as a team,” says Schumi. Junior for the record.
For Mick Schumacher and the Alpine team, the 24 hours ended early.
Image: DPPI / WEC
Peugeot remained outside the top 10 in eleventh and twelfth place. Unlike last year, the French had no chance of keeping up with the top cars in terms of speed.
United Autosports, a racing team run by McLaren boss Zak Brown, won the LMP2 class. At the wheel: Oliver Jarvis, Bijoy Garg and Nolan Siegel.
In the GT3 class, Valentino Rossi’s BMW team had to give up early because his teammate Ahmad Al Harthey crashed out of the race. Winner of the GT3 class: Manthey Porsche with Richard Lietz, Morris Schuring and Yasser Shahin.
Result 24h Le Mans
- Ferrari #50 (Nicklas Nielsen, Miguel Molina, Antonio Fuoco)
- Toyota #7 (Jose María Lopez, Kamui Kobayashi, Nyck de Vries)
- Ferrari #51 (Antonio Giovinazzi, Alessandro Pier Guidi, James Calado)
- Porsche #6 (Laurens Vanthoor, Kevin Estre, André Lotterer)
- Toyota #8 (Brendon Hartley, Ryo Hirakawa, Sébastien Buemi)
- Porsche #5 (Matt Campbell, Frederic Makowiecki, Michael Christiansen)
- Cadillac #2 (Alex Palou, Earl Bamber, Alex Lynn)
- Jota Porsche #12 (Will Stevens, Callum Ilott, Norman Nato)
- Jota Porsche #38 (Jenson Button, Phil Hanson, Oliver Rasmussen)
- Lamborghini #63 (Daniil Kvyat, Mirko Bortolotti, Edoardo Mortara)
